Funny, harem is the word that came to mind to describe it to a friend.

I find it's a recurrent theme across many animes, especially when the target audience is teenage guys (Steins; Gate has some elements of that for example).

I can tolerate some of it (especially when done subtly like in Steins; Gate), but it was blatant to the point of being ridiculous in Knights of Sidonia and occupied significant parts of the narrative.

Only those two score a 10 for me. The latter is truly hilarious.
The other i don't rate due to the subject matter (man anime taste really range widely here...)
I actually think some people are really too picky with anime - especially dislike of harem or ones with too much fanservice.....

Not everyone likes the same kinds of stuff. :P

True, I keep suggesting Kill La Kill to one of my friends who liked TTGL to watch this and he keeps saying there's too much fan service.

Isn't that the point of the anime though?
Perhaps recommend Gurenn Lagann.
If he likes it just say Kill La Kill is by mostly the same people.

He already saw gurren lagann (ttgl) and I told him that same people made it but no effect.

What can I say?
Some people are weird.

Thanks for link. Appreciate it.

There is also reverse-harem, so....I've watched both types and both can be good when done properly. Same goes for shonen/shoujo-ai. And yeah, sue me. I watch that type, too. As long as they are at least entertaining/good, don't care much the demographic target. And if you think Sidonia as bad...than how do you look at stuff as Zero no Tsukaima?!

SAO was a mixed bag for me. I liked some of the story arcs, and others had me stop watching and only come back later on.

The (Vita) games, on the other hand, were great.

I heard one of them was really badly translated though.

The original had some Engrish in it, but not so bad as to be a major detriment to playing.

If you're playing on PS4 the RE: edition has a corrected translation, but they never patched it into the Vita version.

Fuck, nope only have a Vita, I'll trust you on it not being a major detriment. ;)
Will I miss anything with either game considering I haven't watched the anime?

Hollow Fragment is set between the first and second season, but they bring you up to speed if you don't know what's going on. It helps, but it's not necessary.

Lost Song is independent of the anime, connected to it with characters and relationships that were established in the anime, but a pretty standalone story. Once again, it helps, but everything you need is in the game.

The best part about them, like Toukiden: Kiwami, is that the PSV Version is the same game you get on PS4 and not some watered down side story.

Thanks.